BEAUX-ARTS DE PARIS

RESTAURATION ET AMÉNAGEMENT D’UN LIEU DE FORMATION DES ARTISTES

The École des Beaux-Arts de Paris is a leading centre for artistic education in France. The various buildings of which it is composed create a vast architectural ensemble in the district of Saint-Germaindes-Prés. It is there that the first Museum of French Monuments was founded by Alexandre Lenoir in 1795, before being transformed into a school for the training of artists in 1817.

At the time of its creation, architects François Debret and Félix Duban – and later Auguste Perret – designed it as an educational mixture of architectural remains, reproductions of paintings, and moulds made from sculptures. These were intended to train the eye and taste of the individual students based on the heritage bequeathed to them by their illustrious predecessors.

Our entire programme was based on maintaining the historic values of this school-museum.

The École des Beaux-Arts de Paris is a great open book on the history of architecture and the arts.

Since the start of the project in 2013, we have carried out ten or so operations, such as the restoration of the main courtyard, the Mulberry Tree courtyard and the Melpomène Room, the creation of a new lecture theatre and photographic laboratory, and the upgrading and compliance with safety and accessibility standards.

Many other projects are in progress to enable the school to be more functional, but also more welcoming, allowing its students to be received in conditions on the same high level as the school’s exalted cultural and educational ambitions.